Protecting People From Government?

Who doesn't love the preamble to the Constitution? Taken at face value, one item stressed is the promotion of the general welfare. This could include anything up to and including redistribution of wealth.

What the Constitution is not is a document, as a recent correspondent stated, to protect the people from the government [Feb. 18, letter, "All About 'We The People'"]. It was, in fact, the opposite: a document to protect the government from the folly of the people.

Opening speeches at the Constitutional Convention stressed that the problem in America in 1787 was democracy; whether it be in state constitutions or "democracy's mad wings." Under the original Constitution, who did "the people" vote for? Was it the House of Representatives? Yes. The Senate? No, the state legislatures did that. The President? No, an electoral college, chosen in turn by the state legislatures, prevented that office from contamination by "the people." The Supreme Court? No -- no direct input at all.

It took the anti-Constitution forces to attempt to protect the people from the government. As an afterthought, the first 10 amendments were written by people opposed to the Constitution. It was only these Framers who attempted to protect the people from the new government.

John Mueller, Wethersfield

The writer is a history lecturer at Central Connecticut State University.